And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man! Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
Nathan has just told David a story about a poor man's one little lamb, and David has condemned the man who took it to death. The prophet now turns that verdict on the king himself, and then lists everything God had already given him.
The parable led David to sentence himself before he knew who was on trial. One writer traces how the prophet did it, and where the conviction was meant to lead.
The man who had the mind of God visited the king, into whose hand God had placed the sword of judgment. Now they stand face to face, the prophet of God before the ruler God had appointed. With great skill he leads the king to pass judgment on himself. David seems not to see, as he does it, how terrible his own guilt is. David's anger was kindled against the supposed offender. He could be angry at another man's conduct while forgetting his own. But he had to judge himself before God could show him grace. The sentence went out from David, only for him to learn that the judge was the criminal... Convicted? Yes. Not to drive him to despair, but to lead him to repentance.
Kelly draws a warning from David's blazing anger: loud outrage at another's sin is no proof of a clean heart.
"And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man." Do not always trust people when they show fierce indignation... The only thing that enables us to judge anything rightly in others is self-judgment. If we are to see the speck in a brother's eye clearly, let us not forget to take the beam out of our own. David stands here as a solemn example. The man who is quick to see sin in another may be completely blind to his own serious and unjudged sin.
God's message is short. It does not exaggerate the crime or soften it — it simply names the man.
There is no excusing, there is no making it out worse. It is the simple record of the fact — this one little lamb you have taken. Ah, when God speaks, how brief, how simple, how heart-searching, how straightforward it is! The message came home to David's heart and conscience. One word from God and the work is done. "You are the man" — the man, the one single offender before Him, no other such sinner on the face of the earth as David.
The same writer applies that singling out to every child of God.
If you and I are children of God, it is because God singled us out, each one, as a special sinner, so that He may show special mercy to each one. He does not deal with us as a crowd. Each soul has to deal with Him alone, and come to this: "There is no one like me for badness, and there is no one like God for love, and goodness, and grace!"
Before naming the crime, God lists His own gifts. Rossier reads that list as the measure of the offence.
The Lord reminds David of all that He had done for him: "I anointed you king over Israel... and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have given you much more." The treasures of My grace were yours and you sinned in the presence of My love! "Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in His sight?" How had David despised it? God had heaped blessings on him and David had preferred to satisfy his lust.
The point of the list, another commentator notes, is not that David had earned any of it.
First God reminds David that He had in pure grace anointed him as king of Israel, delivering him from King Saul's attempts to kill him... In fact, He would have given David yet more if David felt he did not have enough. All of this was to remind David how totally dependent he was on the great grace of God.
Nathan had stood before David once before — with the promise about his house in chapter 7.
Nathan the prophet had in earlier days been sent to David with words of approval and encouragement, and everything was honourable between them. But when David had sinned, the same Nathan is sent to him with words of terrible rebuke and conviction.
David's answer is confession, and Nathan's next word is pardon. Yet the chastening that follows still bears the shape of the sin.
Notice the solemn principle of retribution here. It is found again and again, in real life as in Scripture. Our sin always shapes the form of our chastening... "And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die." He had sentenced himself, but God in every sense is greater.
- Grace given. Before God charges David, He lists what He gave: the anointing, rescue from Saul, a kingdom. He would have given more.
- Grace despised. The size of the gift measures the size of the sin; David sinned surrounded by the very love that had provided for him.
- Grace exposing. The parable made David sentence himself. The judge found that he was the criminal — and the conviction aimed at repentance, not despair.
- Grace personal. "You are the man" reduces a crowd to one. God deals with each soul alone, singling out a special sinner for special mercy.
- Grace restoring. Confession met pardon at once. Yet the chastening still took the shape of the sin, and God proved greater than the sentence David passed on himself.
and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if [that] had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
God speaks to David after his sin, and He begins with a list of gifts: a throne, rescue, a kingdom, a household. Then He adds that He would have given still more — so what did David lack?
God's first word to David is not the law but His own giving. One writer walks through the list item by item.
First God reminds David of pure grace: He had anointed him king of Israel. He had rescued him from King Saul's efforts to kill him. More than that, God had given Saul's house and his wives into David's keeping. He had also brought both Judah and all Israel under David's rule. In fact, He would have given David yet more if David felt he did not have enough (vv. 7-8). All of this was to remind David how totally dependent he was on the great grace of God.
God's word that He would "add to you as much more" removes every excuse of need. David did not take because God had withheld; he took while God's hand was still open.
The treasures of My grace were yours and you sinned in the presence of My love! "Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in His sight?" How had David despised it? God had heaped blessings on him and David had preferred to satisfy his lust!
The phrase sounds strange today. It is not about romance but about power.
In the eyes of many people, taking a dead king's wife or concubine was the same as claiming the rights of the king (2 Sam. 12:8; 16:21-22). Abishag was not David's wife in the true sense of the word, yet people must have counted her as belonging to the dead king.
So God's point is succession: everything Saul held, He handed to David. The kingdom was a gift, not a seizure.
The verse leads into the charge that David despised the Lord. One writer shows how wide that word reaches.
God pronounced this same judgment against Eli (1 Sam. 2:30) because he honoured his sons more than God. Eli feared the Lord, but he despised Him by letting his sons trample on the sacrifices and offerings God had commanded in His dwelling. And so the Lord tells him: "those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed." We find the same truth in Luke 16:13: "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." To covet the things the world can offer is to despise God. In general our souls are very little aware of this, but this is how God looks at things.
David's fall had a long history. One writer traces it back to what David never dealt with in himself.
David had not fulfilled what the law required. He had not realized his own weakness, as is shown by his many marriages. He had not made, as Job had, a covenant with his eyes. He walked in self-indulgence, and the very height of his position brought on his fall. In the warm sun of prosperity, the indulgence he allowed himself ripened into a bitter harvest. There was no help, because he sought none! So he fell; and so will all who follow this course.
This list of grace lands on a man who was quick to judge someone else's sin. One writer draws the warning.
The only thing that enables us to judge rightly anything in others is self-judgment. If we are to see clearly the speck in a brother's eye, let us not forget to take the log out of our own eye. David stands here as a solemn example. The man who is so quick to see sin in another may be completely blind to his own grave and unjudged wrongdoing.
- Given. Crown, rescue, household, kingdom — God gave David each one by pure grace. The list shows how completely he depended on it.
- More. God stood ready to add as much again. David lacked nothing, and sinned while God's hand was still open.
- Despised. To covet what the world offers is to despise God. He laid the same charge on Eli.
- Ripened. Self-indulgence he never judged grew in the sun of prosperity, and ripened into a bitter harvest.
- Blind. A man can burn with anger at another's sin and stay blind to his own. Only self-judgment clears the sight.
Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah to do evil in his sight? thou hast smitten Urijah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
The prophet has just exposed David, and God now lists the charge: a command despised, a soldier dead, a wife taken. Two questions press hard: why does a man who received so much despise God's word, and how is David the killer when Ammonite soldiers struck the blow?
God lists His gifts before He names the deeds. One writer weighs the sin against that list.
The Lord reminds David of all that He had done for him: "I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul … and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given you such and such things" (vv. 7-8). The treasures of My grace were yours and you sinned in the presence of My love! "Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in His sight?" How had David despised it? God had heaped blessings on him and David had preferred to satisfy his lust!
The wording of the charge closes every exit. David is not invited to explain himself.
But despite this abundant incentive to be fully subject to the authority of the Lord, David had despised the positive commandment of the Lord. He is told, "You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword: you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon" (v.9). The Lord's verdict is clear and positive: David is guilty. He could not dare to make the slightest excuse for himself.
Uriah fell in battle, at the hands of men who knew nothing of the plot. God still calls the death David's own act. No arrangement could hide it.
The charge left no room for evasion or excuse. You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword. But David had struck no blow; Uriah died as a soldier by the hand of the enemy. Had David glossed over his sins by such an excuse? If he had, he could do it no longer. "You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites" were words the truth of which he could not deny. In this case every distinction between legal guilt and moral guilt collapsed. David had signed no death warrant. The Ammonites who struck Uriah knew nothing of his plot against the life of his faithful servant. Yet in God's eyes the act was as much David's as if he had signed the death warrant for Uriah's public execution, or had struck him dead with his own hand. David imagined the affair had been managed quietly. He was now undeceived. God had not been ignorant of his sins, and He had not been indifferent. Not every crime is detected on earth… Either in this world or in the next, God, the moral Governor, takes up such matters and settles them.
Uriah lost his life and Bathsheba her husband. Yet the verse weighs the crime by God's sight. David's own confession afterwards takes the same measure.
All sins are first of all against God, whoever else they may harm. The case of David shows this clearly, in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah… The words of the prophet led David to confess what he had done. Psalm 51 is the record of that confession. Verse 4 gives the remarkable words: "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight." Since all sins are first of all against God, only God can give eternal forgiveness for them.
David was not a private man. He reigned in God's name, and that shaped how God dealt with him.
This was a very great sin: David committed it in secret; God punishes it in the sight of all Israel. If David did not know how to glorify God, and if — while reigning in His name — he did not keep a true testimony to the nature of God's kingdom, but falsified its character instead, God Himself will know how to trace its features again in the sight of all men. He will do it through the chastisement He sends on the man who dishonoured Him in this way. That man had taken away the only witness to His government which God had set up before men.
David confesses. What follows holds grace and government apart.
Grace meets this confession, as he hears, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die." But grace and government are two different principles. Grace says, "The Lord has put away your sin." Government can only say, "The child also that is born to you shall surely die." The wheels of God's governmental chariot never stop, and "whatever a man sows that shall he also reap."
- Given — God lists His gifts first: the anointing, the rescue from Saul, the kingdom, and more if David had wanted it.
- Despised — The sin was contempt for the word of the One who gave him everything. David preferred his lust to his Giver.
- Counted — The Ammonite sword was David's sword. Distance, deniability and other men's hands change nothing in God's reckoning.
- Exposed — David sinned in secret. He stood for God's government before the nation, so God answered it in the sight of all Israel.
- Forgiven, yet reaped — Grace met his confession and David did not die. God's government still ran its course: what a man sows, he also reaps.
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Urijah the Hittite to be thy wife.
Nathan has just exposed David's adultery and his arranged killing of Uriah. Now the prophet moves from the charge to the sentence: a lasting mark on the king's family. Two questions follow. Why does God call this despising Him? And why does the sword stay in a house God is ready to pardon?
God weighs the sin against what He had already given David. Nathan first lists the throne, the rescue from Saul, the kingdom — and only then names the sin.
The Lord reminds David of all that He had done for him: "I anointed you king over Israel. I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your care. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would have given you much more" (vv. 7-8). The treasures of My grace were yours and you sinned in the presence of My love! "Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?" How had David despised it? God had heaped blessings on him and David had preferred to satisfy his lust!
The charge also sharpens: from despising God's word to despising God Himself. David worked hard to keep the affair out of human sight. That effort showed whose eyes he feared.
Notice, "You have despised Me." David had tried to hide his sin from public view by putting Uriah out of the way. He forgot the all-seeing eye of the Lord. He forgot too the honour of His holy name. Had he remembered the Lord at the moment when his own nature was speaking inside him, he would not have fallen into the trap. The sense of God's presence is the great safeguard against evil. But how often we are more influenced by the presence of other people than by the presence of God!
God shapes the sentence to match the crime, item for item.
He had killed Uriah with the sword of the children of Ammon — the sword should now never depart from his house. He had taken Uriah's wife — others should take his wives. He had done it secretly — but, said the Lord, I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. We shall find the sentence carried out in chapters 13:28-39; 16:21-22; 18:14.
David confesses, and God pardons him. The sword still stays. Darby sets the two side by side: God forgives the person, and God still governs His world.
David is pardoned, because he confesses his sin. But as to His government, God shows Himself inflexible. He spares the king — for he deserved death — yet He tells him that the sword will never depart out of his house. David's punishment also matches his sins.
The sentence ran on to the end of David's life, and the verse still calls Bathsheba the wife of Uriah. Yet this dealing has a limit.
Full and everlasting forgiveness does not free those who receive it from God's dealings with them in government. David had to experience that, right to the end of his life. The child born to him by Uriah's wife must die. (Bathsheba was still regarded in that light.) And the sword should never depart from his house. Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah were examples of that. Governmental dealing, however, ends with this life. God's favour to us, based on the sacrifice of Christ, lasts for ever.
The verse is not only about a king. Rossier turns the same word on the desires we quietly let into our own hearts.
Every natural heart has lusts that attract it. By "lusts" we do not mean only the defiling things of the world. We also mean "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life" — pleasures, vanity, and ambition. These things find easy access into a Christian's heart. How many days and years often pass without our shutting the door to them! Every time we open the door to this visitor we are despising the Lord Himself.
- Despising — God weighs the sin against all He had already given David. To sin in the face of that love is to despise Him.
- Secrecy — David feared people's eyes more than God's. So God makes the judgment public.
- Sword — the punishment takes the shape of the sin: he killed by the sword, and the sword lodges in his house.
- Pardon — God forgives David and spares his life. In government He stays inflexible. Forgiveness and consequences are not the same thing.
- Limit — Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah fulfilled the word. But this kind of dealing ends with this life. God's favour, based on the sacrifice of Christ, lasts for ever.